Thetownend.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8oN58cyp2c

whys he speaking like a fanny for?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA



i thoroughly enjoyed that. he really is a buffon. he sounds like hes learning english alongside capello...

He's speaking like an english bloke in benidorm circa 1972.  Even though he has a translator.  Gimp.

Malcolm?

Double?

Just me then?

What a tool.

How did this fool ever become England manager?  (OK, FA incompetence.  I know it's a simple answer.)

 Also...the media are culpable, and by association their readership, for their ludicrous it has to be an Englishman stance.

  McClaren was probably, the most recent English club manager to win a trophy...think Brian Little was the last before that circa 96.

  Once they went down that track it was him or Allardyce...who has the dodgy stuf clinging to him.

  One positive from  McClaren's failure, is that it seems that people are starting to realise we're not actually very good, and qualification for SA, will be an achievement.

I disagree. The evidence suggests that under competent management we are 1/4 finals team.

Counts you out then Toddy......

You're not wrong..... :D

To be fair do you think he's been asked to speak like that to help the dutch supporters understand him?Having said that, that clip is, "ass you shay", funny as fuck.

Schmoke and a pancake

 I would substitute are for were

 Where's the talent coming through to replace what is now a stale squad.  Goalkeeper is a rewal problem....OK Richards looks the part, Fat Frank isn't up to it any lomger, Gerrard doesn't perform for England...which leaves?  Up front is even worse....certainly having followed England for close on 50 years, I can never recall such little avaiable talent for a manafger to pick from.

That really is better than expected!

Unnnn beeeeer senyuuuuuuur

I disagree. The core of the team is basically the same now as it was 4 years ago.

As from having a smaller pool of premier league players to pick from, yes thats true. But having a lot of players to pick from dont make them any good.  2/3 rds of English top division players 20/30 years ago would have been hopeless at international level. players of that standard are now playing in the championship due to the foreign influx.

Personally I have faith in Capello to at least make us competitive in major tournaments again, much like Sven did. And I think Capello is a better manager than Sven.

I still think the England team wouldn't suffer if someone had the balls to pick a player that fits into a team/formation. For example, Jack Charlton was brought into the England squad late on because he fit Ramsey's plans.

Capello just needs to grab the national team by the scruff of the neck and make the decisions and not let the media/public do it for him.

The point missing from your post, though, is that the reduction in top flight berths available for English players reduces competition for places in the International squad.

The players challenging Hoddle and Waddle for a place in the England line up in the 1980s were also playing top flight football.  They were visible and had the opportunity to pitch themselves against England players domestically.

By your own argument, the players who might challenge Lampard and Gerrard are, to a large extent, being shunted in to the Championship by the influx of players from abroad.  They are much less visible.  And no England manager has given serious consideration to selecting players from outside the top division anyway.

There is no question in my mind that, while the Premiership is a commercial success, it is hampering the England team.  And I'm not just talking about players either.  When the 'Big Four' are managed by a Brazilian, a Scot, a Frenchman and a Spaniard, it's no surprise that English players are less likely to consider a career in club management.  As Reg says, McLaren was deemed to be the best English candidate for the England job a few years back.  Does that not really prove the point?

Ummm no not really. Your point about players challenging Gerrard and Lampard simply isnt true.  There are plenty of good to half decent English central midfielders playing in the premier league. Of the top of my head:  Barry, Hargreaves, Carrick, Jenas, Reo cocker, Noble, Nolan, micheal Johnson, Tom Huddlestone, Joey Barton,  ;) I dont personally rate some of those but you get my point. They are there.

To be honest if an English player cant convince even the worst group of premiership teams to buy them ie Bolton, Wigan etc then they are of a total irrellevance to the National team because they simpy are not any good. If they play well in the championship they'll end up in the premier league one way or another within a year or 2 anyway.

As for the point about Maclaren, its not a recent phenomenon that there are not any top class English managers. The only one I can think of who has a top class reputation in the last 20 years is Bobby Robson.

There are plenty of things to blame the premier league for, but you cant blame the premier league for a problem that existed before it was even formed.

Ardiles

Of the top of my head English central midfielders currently playing in the Prem include:

Jenas
Hargreaves
Cole
Carrick
Barry
Sidwell
Reo-Coker
David Dunn
Matty Taylor

That's 9 or 10 players. They're probably the next best England CM players after the current shirt holders, (although you can argue the toss over whether one or two of them should actually be starting in front of Lamps or Gerrard). What's clear is that anyone else that might have been in the top-flight in the past but is now playing in the Championship is NOT AS GOOD as the players in that list. What possible fucking benefit to the England team would it be to have another dozen mediocre players playing in the top flight in addition to them?

So instead of Lampard lining up against Diop, Mendes, Diarra et al on Saturday he'd be facing the likes of Lee Hendrie, John Harley and Jamie Scowcroft. I'm sure that'd really improve his game

lumps and colin todd in identical post within 2 minutes shocker

To be fair to mclaren in this interview, its probably a better way to be understood than speaking loudly and slowly

 One of stated aims for the Premier League, was to improve the quality of the national team....I think you could argue in the early years that it started to do this.

  But it can be no coincidence that the last two winners of both the WC and Euros, contained no more than the odd then PL player. Probably Torres with Fabregas on the bench.  Even the AC of N crammed with PL players was won by Egypt with none.
 

I think that is a coincidence actually. It's a coincidence that the current holders of the two major international trophies are Italy and Spain, the two strongest domestic leagues alongside the PL. It's no suprise that most of their players play in their own domestic leagues. When France, with a tinpot domestic set up were cup holders most of their players played either here, in Spain or in Italy as well.

Shit that's not something that happens too often! If we ever agree about anything political I'll really start to worry.

 Think when France won it, there were only a couple of PL based players, probably Franck Leboeuf and Manu Petit....

I can't be bothered looking up the dates but off the top of my head the players that were playing in the PL, had recently played in the PL or were about to play in the PL in that squad were:

Bartez
Deschamps
Petit
Desailly
Pirez
Viera
Djorkaeff
Pires
and LeBeouf

Which is pretty much the whole team bar Trezuget and Zidane who were in Italy. That's my point really, the best players in Europe end up here, in Series A or La Liga. But most of the Spaniards are in Spain, most of the Italians are in Italy, and most Brits are here, because they're all strong leagues that pay good money. Why's that a suprise and why should it say anything about the relative strengths of the leagues?

The only real measure of a league's strength is the performace of its teams in competition, and the line-up for the semi-finals of the CL makes it fairly clear the the PL is doing alright at the moment.

You can add Henry and Blanc to that list as well

They were a bit later and Henry didn't play in that WC winning side from what I remember.

I think Henry was in the Sqaud then. if not he played in their euro 200 winning side.

And blanc was propoerly shit by the time he played for united

Look, can someone at least acknowledge my, admittedly very subtle, but witty play on the title of this thread to reference the genius piece of 80's pop nonsense by the self important git that is Malcolm Maclaren.

Linky Linky:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-bX-xuQxBI

 I forgot about Viera, but this is what the Prem does...hoovers up the talent after something like a WC or a Euro...that players arrived in the Prem after winning something, doesn't undermine my basic argument that since the formation of the Prem, very few major winners have been playing in it.

What an idiot. He has zero chance of ever getting a job in England after that spasticated performance hahaha